A man has come under fire for persuading his parents to stop paying for his sister's IVF treatment after a failed first attempt.
The 23-year-old took to Reddit to explain that his sister has been married six years and has been unsuccessful in having children of her own with her husband.
"Eighteen months ago she and her husband came to my parents and asked if we'd finance an IVF treatment. My parents have some savings separate from retirement and agreed to pay for it," he explained in the online post.
"I even pitched in a few hundred dollars to show my support even though I didn't have a lot of savings, having just started work after graduation."
Unfortunately, this first round of IVF failed and the sister and her husband have been round to see her parents to ask if they could finance another round in an emotional meeting.
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It was at this point the brother decided to get involved and suggested it is not quite fair that his sister could receive all of this money for two rounds of IVF while he has not had the same money.
"At this point I stood up and said it's not right for her to ask again for our parents' money for something that didn't work before and may not work again," he explained.
"We argued a bit and I admit that things got heated and we had a big fight. She yelled at me that it was none of my business. I told her she if she can't pay for the IVF then she needs to accept that she can't afford a kid. She told me to get out, but I refused."
The brother then began to claim that while it is not his money to decide what to do with, this would basically be a gift that is being given to one child and not the other which he said is unfair.
"My sister started complaining that it's not a gift, it's a treatment for a medical condition and if I'd expect payment if she had cancer and my parents paid for chemo," he stated in the post.
"I told her not being able to have a kid poses no threat to her life the way cancer does and it's a completely disingenuous comparison."
After the emotional and teary meeting where the parents ended up siding with the brother and not paying for a second round of IVF, the brother claimed to receive a lot of texts messages from his sister berating him for getting involved in the situation.
The brother has faced some backlash online following his involvement in the argument with one Redditor replying: "using ‘if she got IVF money I should get an equal amount of money’ is an entitled, ridiculous argument."
While another said: "I do think considering IVF money a gift in the same way that a car is a gift is incorrect, though, so to me, yeah, asking for an equal amount of money as an adult does feel entitled (although I appreciate you were just trying to make a point)."
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